Gloria Taylor is a San Diego-based folk singer-songwriter and energy and sound healer. In 2022, she released her critically acclaimed EP, “Sun,” which music critic Jeff Gemmill of The Old Grey Cat called “a meditative wonder.” The EP was nominated for a San Diego Music Award in the category of Best Folk/Acoustic Album and also received praise from noted folk and country website Americana UK, as well as Indie Boulevard. “Sun” followed her previous album, 2018’s “Go for the Moon,” and 2020’s single, “Decision.”
The five songs on “Sun” were inspired by Taylor’s experience as a sound and energy healer during the pandemic. In summer 2021, she volunteered her time doing remote sound-healing sessions on Zoom for those fighting COVID and impacted by the virus. Their stories of surrender and sometimes bittersweet triumphs heavily influenced the music on the EP. Taylor was recording her follow-up album to “Go for the Moon” when she felt compelled to pivot and record “Sun” instead.
“I wanted to capture the feeling of the moment as I witnessed people working through so many emotions — hope, fear and perseverance,” she said. “These songs mostly wrote themselves and had quite a different feel from the ones I was recording for my follow-up album. So, I postponed my album to record these first. There was an urgency and potency to these songs, and they insisted they get completed and released before my other projects.”
Taylor is also a regular sound healer and performer at Palomar UUF and The Soul of Yoga, one of San Diego County’s most popular yoga studios. Last year, she joined Swirl of Sound, a San Diego sound-healing collective, where her vocal toning and sacred chants accompany singing bowls, gongs, didgeridoos and a medley of other world instruments. She uses a combination of vocal expression and improvisation to add dimension and depth to the sound bath.
In 2021, Taylor composed the music for 35th Annual Congress on Illumination, a global virtual conference hosted by internationally renowned spiritual teacher and author Patricia Cota-Robles.
Outside of music, Taylor is an energy healer with 20-plus years experience and has a private practice.
